Curtis Davies shares his thoughts on Aston Villa ahead of Derby County clash

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Frank Lampard’s Derby County will travel to Aston Villa for their Championship clash on Saturday.

Curtis Davies has stated that he expects ‘underachieving’ Aston Villa to ‘take the game’ to Derby County when the two meet in their Championship clash on Saturday.

Centre-back Davies is currently out with a long-term injury and will not feature, but he is insistent that his out-of-form side can get back to their best in the coming weeks if they put things ‘right’.

Frank Lampard’s side suffered a damaging defeat against bitter rivals Nottingham Forest on Monday and they will be looking to bounce back by picking up three points at Villa Park.

Speaking to Kick Off on talkSPORT (26/02/2019 at 7:25 pm), Davies shared his thoughts on Derby’s recent struggles and the tough games that are coming up for his team as they push for a top-six spot.

“If we [Derby] are going to feel any pressure, we are going to feel it now,” Davies told talkSPORT. “Simply because we have not been in the form we would have liked to have been in and we know how good this squad is.

“If we do get it right then I have no doubts that we can get into the play-offs. I think the next two games against Villa and Stoke, obviously both teams that are by their own standards, underachieving. But they want to play.

“The way Nathan Jones wants to play and the way Dean Smith wants to play. They want to come out and take the game to us, so hopefully, it works in our favour and we are able to play the way we play by exploiting spaces and scoring some goals.”

The last time Villa and Derby met, Dean Smith’s side recorded a deserved 3-0 win, but since then things have gone downhill for the club.

They have been without a number of key players as Smith has had to work with a thin and unbalanced squad, as well as bringing back loanees and signing his own players during the January transfer window.

During their last league fixture, they recorded a much-needed draw away at Stoke in what was a better performance from the team compared to previous matches.

The game will also see the return of playmaker Jack Grealish, who has been out of action since December as he has come back just in time for the second city derby which takes place a week on Sunday.